A Better East Texas: Dartmouth basketball players attempt to unionize
TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Recently, members of the Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted to unionize in an effort to gain compensation for playing basketball for the Ivy League university. Dartmouth is a private university and athletes, with the exception of some football players, do not receive scholarships. So, these students and their families are paying their way. The basketball players want to be considered employees. Currently, they don’t receive pay but they do receive equipment, tickets and other side perks. But let’s look at this situation for a moment. They are voluntarily pursuing playing college sports where, in this case, they don’t receive scholarships. To that end, their college experience and prospect for graduating would not be affected if they were not playing basketball. They would lose nothing. So, they are going into an activity, voluntarily, knowing there is no monetary compensation. Now, they are claiming that their status of being just a student has changed. The vote is being challenged in court. But if it holds up, this obviously could cascade into other sports and across genders so consider the impact that it will have on minor sports that operate at a loss. If this decision holds, those minor sports athletes will lose out because universities will have no other option than to reduce the number of sports they are willing to offer. These are students first, earning an education. These players should focus on that priority and then once they have a degree, they can set the world on fire righting every perceived wrong and making a living doing it.
Copyright 2024 KLTV. All rights reserved.
